If vaccines work, why are my unvaccinated kids a threat to your vaccinated ones? Why do you care?

The short answer;

I don’t have kids. Yours are no threat to mine.

The explanation;

Not having my own kids does not stop me caring.

I spend my professional life looking after people on the edge of death. Almost every day I have to tell families that their loved one may not make it, and I have to watch their grief and their horror and their tears. I have to listen to them say “but how can this have happened, we live such a healthy life?”

I care because breaking bad news can be hard, when people are unavoidably sick, and it is hard when parents have done everything possible to protect their kids.

Just for one second though, imagine what it is like for a family as they realise they are going to lose a loved one because of a choice that they have made. Imagine what it is like for them, and imagine what it is like for the staff trying to care for that family. Imagine, and realise you could be that family, hearing those words.

But that is not all. I also care because some people can’t have vaccines, because they are too young, or too sick. Which is not their choice. And not their fault. Your choice though, it doesn’t only affect your family. Your unvaccinated kids are putting the innocent and vulnerable at risk.

I care because I don’t just care about myself, and my family.

And these are the words of a good friend of mine, spoken as she was going through chemotherapy for breast cancer.